COLLABORATION between Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, which is currently controlling Stroud District Council, should be extended to the national level, according to South West MEP Molly Scott Cato.

Dr Scott Cato, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Bristol West and former Stroud district councillor, said the ‘progressive alliance’, which was formed in 2012, was working “very effectively” in a BBC Radio 4 Today interview.

“In Stroud, when I was a councillor there, we managed to have a working arrangement with Labour and the Liberal Democrats that kept the Tories out of power,” she said.

“We’ve run the council very effectively and I think we could look to extend that now to parliamentary seats and I really think this is something the country is crying out for. They’re tired of the divisive politics of the past.”

Following Theresa May’s announcement of a snap election last week, the Green Party wrote an open letter to the leaders of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru calling for parties to unite to challenge the Conservatives on June 8.

They wrote: “We have an economy facing a crisis and people up and down the country facing serious hardship.

"There is an urgent need to make a stand against any austerity and the slashing of environmental legislation, human and workers’ rights that may come with Brexit.”